The man behind "Spock" was also a singer/songwriter.

Further Reading

Star Trek was a revelation to me when I first watched it as a kid. I was too young to have seen the culture around the show during its initial run in the 1960s, though, which probably explains how I missed the five records put out by Leonard "Spock" Nimoy between 1967 and 1970.

Cast members from every iteration of the show have exhibited an odd penchant for recording musical albums—everyone from Brent "Data" Spiner to Nichelle "Uhura" Nichols has cut a record. And William "Kirk" Shatner is of course legendary for his bizarro musical performances (if you haven't heard his cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", set three minutes aside to give it a listen). In 1991, Entertainment Weekly noted that "the show has inspired more misguided crooning careers than any other TV series."

But Nimoy's efforts were a bit different. Though he did plenty of covers, including Johnny Cash's iconic "I Walk the Line," Nimoy wrote his own songs, too, like the creditable folk effort "Maiden Wine" from 1969's The Touch of Leonard Nimoy.

"Maiden Wine"

Sure, there's a whiff of "cash in" about some of these projects, as when Nimoy relies on his Spock persona for songs like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Earth," which includes lines like, "If I were an emotional creature, I would be shocked by your Earth concept of 'stars falling on Alabama.'"

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Earth"

But Nimoy appears to have been a truly enthusiastic troubadour, a side of him I didn't fully appreciate until reading more about his life in the wake of his death this morning in Los Angeles. Consider "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins," filmed in 1967—it's the very definition of "committing to your material."

"The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"

As for his own songs, like 1969's "A Piece of Hope," they could be as optimistic as the underlying worldview of the original Trek. Here are the final lines, which sound a bit like Star Trek's philosophy set to the sounds of Peter, Paul, and Mary:

You'll have to come to join with me
To reach out with your hand
To build a chain of love and truth
And justice in the land.

"A Piece of Hope"

Wikipedia has a nice rundown of Nimoy's complete discography. The songs are worth a listen—though some of them no more than once—to any true Trek fan. Even the worst of them show the playful and emotional sides of a man best known for playing an emotionally challenged Vulcan.

RIP, Leonard.

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